Despite downward trends at other universities, domestic student interest and enrolments in postgraduate information technology (IT) courses at Charles Sturt University (CSU) are strong and make it the market leader.

 

Mr Martin Hale, CSU adjunct senior lecturer and CEO of IT Masters Pty Ltd, says recent data for the first 10 years (2001 to 2010) that his organisation has partnered CSU in the provision of domestic postgraduate IT studies shows that CSU has become the market leader, with 13 per cent of domestic enrolments in 2010, up from 3 per cent in 2001.

 

In 2010 CSU had 504 domestic postgraduate IT students, while its nearest competitor had 377 students. Enrolments at the other Australian universities, and private providers, showed a consistent declining trend, and some had single figure enrolments.

 

“I think the main driver behind Charles Sturt University’s market position is industry relevance, because IT guys are paid on the basis of their knowledge of today’s platforms, not what was in place even three years ago,” Mr Hale said.

 

“IT students want to enrol in courses that cover current technology delivered by lecturers working  in the industry, and Charles Sturt University’s IT masters courses are still the only postgraduate courses that offer a significant number of subjects that meet this category. Because the average life of IT technologies and platforms has shrunk so much, it is really difficult to keep the courses current within the university course and subject management timeframes.”

 

Mr Jason Howarth, lecturer at the CSU School of Computing and Mathematics says it is vitally important that CSU works hard to keep its postgraduate IT courses current.

 

“A lot of universities claim to be at the cutting-edge when it comes to their information technology courses, but the IT landscape can change so rapidly that, in practice, they are really several years behind,” Mr Howarth said. “But with the Charles Sturt University IT Masters’ courses, we work directly with industry vendors to ensure our degrees incorporate the very latest technology. For example, we have previously worked closely with Microsoft to ensure our courseware is based on technology that is completely new to market. In an industry that prides itself on innovation and currency, this gives our students a real edge.”

 

The Chairman of the Australian Computer Society Foundation, Mr John Debrincat, said it is concerning to see that there has been a 56 per cent decline in the number of domestic students enrolled in postgraduate information communication technology courses between 2001 to 2010.

 

“But there is a glimmer of hope to see that the number of domestic students at Charles Sturt University in these courses has doubled during the same period,” Mr Debrincat said.